Springfield Family Recovering After Marathon Bombing

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (WUSA9) -- Seventeen-year-old Maddie Wittich has a look of shock on her in one of the photos taken after the Boston Marathon bombings.

She can be seen in a red Richmond sweatshirt and is walking with her sisters and her mom who is being carried by Former New England Patriot Joe Andruzzi.

Julie Wittichhas a broken leg from the blast. Her three girls, somehowescapedinjury, but they will never forget the horror they saw.

"I"ve never been so scared, really really scared," said Maddie Wittich"I saw a person whose clothes were burned off lying on the ground."

They worried about their father, who was running the Marathon on his 49th birthday.

"Wedidn'tknow if he was OK."

They were about 15 feet away from the second blast . As they huddled in the doorway , a police officer told everyone to run away in case there were more bombs.

Julie Wittichsaid, "I could not walk... I can't walk."

Her two oldest daughters picked her up but it was her 16 year old Christine who carried her for blocks. That's when former NFL player helped carry Julie Wittichthe rest of the way to an ambulance.

"They sat me on a curb and a Harvard med student came over," said Julie Wittich. "One of the paramedics said 'Ma'am your leg is broken and then you have to go to the hospital. I didn't want to leave my kids."

But Maddie insisted. Now she and her younger sisters were on their own in a strange city, at dangerous time. Again, they were told to run.

The girls, eventually found their father, who was fine and they came home to Springfield yesterday.

"We are so fortunate... so many people aren't," saidJulie Wittich.

Julie is also thankful for fit children who were strong enough to carry their mom in a time of great need.